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Recent Reads: July 2021


July, I realized I read a lot mostly from two genres thrillers/murder mysteries and Self-help.

But I am glad to have discovered that I loved Audiobooks more and more.

I also found a secret hack – to read faster listen to an audiobook (at least 1.5 times the speed) and read from a book at the same time. Thank me later.

So I’m basically using two platforms for my audiobooks. Audible and Scribd.  Both of them have an awesome selection of titles to choose from and the collection is huge. So go try it out. They also offer free trials. Here are the links.


Unique Book Recommendations to help you find your next read!

Thrillers I read in July 2021




My rating: 4 stars

Published in 2021

Pages: 365

A Cut for a Cut by Carol Wyer

A young girl ends up dead in a quiet locality. What’s surprising is that she was abused before being killed and the word “MINE” was carved on her shoulder. Detective Kate Young and her team have a tough job before them with no clues or witnesses to help them. And then there’s another abuse and murder with the same signature. Only this time the woman belongs to the Police Force.

The killer is getting smarter, faster and more aggressive. Will DI Young be able to nab him before he commits another crime? Fast-paced, gripping and perfectly plotted crime based novel.




My rating: 4 stars

Published in 2018

Pages: 308

Audiobook Length: 7 hours

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie is a girl who has no one. Her mother a junkie comes home only once in a while with a new husband every time. Sadie has no clue who her father is and her only beloved family member, her sister Madie is dead. And Sadie needs to avenge her sister’s death. She disappears one night in search of the killer. She knows who’s responsible for her sister’s death, but she doesn’t know where to find this person.

When a radio podcaster here’s Sadie’s story he decides to trace her through his radio show dedicated to “The Girls.” Mysterious, sad, brave and bold. The story of a little’s girl’s enormous courage despite her physical disability, her stutter.




My rating: 4 stars

Published in 2014

Pages: 242

Read this book for the twisted end you’d never in a millions years see coming. I was shocked by the reveal.

Cady belongs to the wealthy Sinclair family. She has a gang of four that they call the liars, whom she looks forward to meeting every summer. But one summer, the summer of fifteen, something happens that Cady has no memory of. And her family is taking every effort to hide what happened from her.




My rating: 5 stars

Published in 2021

Pages: 368

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

High in the Swiss Alps, is a luxurious hotel that has a grim history. It is built on a Sanatorium where patients of TB were treated. Elin finds herself at the hotel to celebrate her brother’s recent engagement to Laure. But overnight Laure disappears. Multiple layers unfold in the story, with Elin’s disturbing history with her brother, Elin’s history with the missing girl and the discovery of a mutilated and long-lost body of the hotel’s architect.

An absolute atmospheric gem read this novel for the sheer beauty and terror of the place and its surroundings. Every bit a page-turner it is hyped to be.


Memoirs/Biographies I read I July 2021




My rating: 5 stars

Published in 2006

Pages: 294

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This is a semi-autobiographical novel that was originally written with a pseudonym and changed names for places and people.

Esther Greenwood, has what everyone woman wants. A job as a fashion magazine editor-in-training, with beautiful clothes, stays in luxury hotels, good food, glamour and an exciting life. But she isn’t happy, in fact she is terrified and feels out of place. Thus begins her mental downfall.

A first of its kind novel that takes us through everything that happened to and with a mentally unstable person. It talks about mental health openly. She attempted suicide in her mother’s house.

Esther was institutionalized. Given shock therapy. She describes feeling trapped inside a bell jar. Where she’s suffocating in her own psyche. A powerful story narrated through flashbacks in the author’s past.




My rating: 5 stars

Published in 2018

Pages: 334

Educated by Tara Westover

Tara never went to school, neither did any of her siblings, only because their father did not believe in public education. Neither did he believe in hospitals, any wounds superficial or deep were treated at home with the help of herbs. No births in their house happened at a hospital. They lived far away from towns and cities, in the mountains, in order to stay away from outward influence. This was the kind of belief system Tara grew up in.

And yet she would grow up to hold a doctorate, from Cambridge, and come back to Harvard to teach. How did this revolutionary journey happen? How did this extraordinary education take place, in spite of her parents believing she was the devil in the family?


Self-Help/Non-fiction I read in July 2021




My rating: 3 stars

Published this edition in 1981

Pages: 152


Read More Here

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Why did Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) set out on a path to self-discovery? Why did he give up on his royal and luxurious life? How long did his spiritual journey take? What did he do while on the path? Did he ever have a family, a son? Who influenced or guided his journey?

Get all yours questions, concerning the spiritual journey of self-realization, answered through Buddha’s story based on real life events in his life. Read this book for an introspective journey to find true meaning and peace. 

This Book is free with your Kindle Unlimited Subscription. 




My rating: 4 stars

Published in 2019

Pages: 224

Zen – The Art of Simple Living by Shunmyo Masuno

Drawing on centuries of wisdom, renowned Zen Buddhist priest Shunmyo Masuno applies the essence of Zen to modern life in clear, practical, easily adopted lessons – one a day for 100 days.

From this books you will learn 100 ways to bring yourself true happiness and calm. You will earn how to exhale deeply to eliminate negative emotions, to arrange your house simply to clear your thinking, to line up your shoes at night to bring order to your mind, to plant a single flower and watch it grow, to worry less about what you cannot control.




My rating: 4 stars

Published in 2001

Pages: 168

Audiobook Length 2.5 hours

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel

In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering.

Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.




My rating: 4 stars

Published in 2000

Pages: 100

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolf where the author shares her opinions of what stops a woman from excelling in or exploring her creative abilities.

She even shares an interesting illustration supposing if someone as genius as Shakespeare but only a woman had begun writing, how it would have ended up, due to the fact that she was a woman.

Very interesting to say the least.




My rating: 5 stars

Published in 2000

Pages: 210

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

There is a very charming simplicity to this memoir. The lessons and values Morrie imparts while battling the disease are very heartfelt, given with the intent to better the life of another even while dying.

Everybody is getting old, but this book will teach you that how you grow old is your choice. The book reflects on the beautiful and life-changing relationship between a teacher and their student.



Books on my August 2021 TBR

I might continue with reading thrillers in August too, because you already know, it’s my favorite genre.  And I have a huge stack of unread thrillers still lying on my bookshelf. Plus some interesting women's fiction.

So stay tuned and keep reading.

I have some interesting author copies for review too. 

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